A practical approach to model long MIS interconnects in VLSI circuits

In this paper, a practical approach to model metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) interconnects is presented, with focus on the microstrip configuration. Starting from a one-dimensional (1-D) electromagnetic field analysis, we first extend the validity range of some closed-form expressions from 1-D to two-dimensional (2-D) and present an original RLCG-B model with five equivalent circuit parameters. These parameters, which depend on two effective widths of the physical metal strip, can be frequency dependent because of the skin effect and the dielectric losses. The original RLCG-B model is then modified and implemented with seven frequency-independent circuit parameters. These parameters are computed by analytical equations. Numerical simulations are used to validate the original and modified RLCG-B models. A formula to allow comparison of various interconnect models in the time domain is proposed. Comparisons based on this formula are presented for a single transmission line with source resistance, R/sub S/, and load capacitance, C/sub L/. Such comparisons are more meaningful in VLSI applications than comparisons of characteristics derived from swept-frequency per-unit-length parameters.